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<title>First Sight of the Sea by Melpomaen</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23402191">First Sight of the Sea</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melpomaen/pseuds/Melpomaen'>Melpomaen</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works &amp; Related Fandoms, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Back to Middle Earth Month 2020, Back to Middle-Earth Month, Fourth Age, Gen, Melpomaen as Erestor's son, Sea-longing, The Silmarillion References, anxiety | Mel worries about staying too long in Middle Earth and eventually fading, traveling across Middle Earth</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 06:22:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>229</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23402191</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melpomaen/pseuds/Melpomaen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Melpomaen encounters a sea for the first time shortly after he begins his travels in the Fourth Age.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Back to Middle-earth Month 2020: Endings and Beginnings</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>First Sight of the Sea</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first time Melpomaen lays eyes on a sea is in Rhún.</p><p>There are some legends that the men in Belfalas have recited to him, claiming this water in the east is the sea the first elves awoke to. They are wildly inaccurate. It is not far enough east nor north to be the Sea of Helcar. Those waters have been long lost to time, but the men of Belfalas couldn't know any better. The men of Belfalas only know this story as it's survived the changing of hands from the long disbanded elves of Dol Amroth and several dozen generations of men.</p><p>No, the Sea of Rhûn is simply that.</p><p>But as he stares into this untamed, eternal force from between the folds of his scarf, he allows himself to imagine that this is what the first elves saw. Under the dim light of the stars, did the sea look even more endless? Did they too feel this dread? This anxiety, this need to know your birthplace before you're pulled West? The fear of fading if you can never bring yourself to go?</p><p>He remembers the stories of the Teleri conquering this sea on their journey to Valinor. Did they ever fear the delay caused by the mastering of their shipbuilding might result in denial of their passage?</p><p>He does not even want to think about the Avari.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>B2MEM 2020 Prompt 1: "first sight of the sea"<br/>1. Melpomaen is on the shore of the Sea of Rhûn.<br/>2. The history he ponders is a direct reference to the awakening of the elves in the Silmarillion.<br/>3. Set in the Fourth Age. Mel is trying to explore his continent of birth before he sails.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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